Development of a new personalized staff-scheduling method with a work-life balance perspective: case of a hospital

Burnout rates and dissatisfaction among healthcare workers remain high due to long working hours. One possible solution to this problem is to let them choose their weekly working hours and starting times in order to achieve a work-life balance. Moreover, a scheduling process that responds to changing healthcare demands at different times of the day should increase work efficiency in hospitals. In this study, a methodology and software were developed to schedule hospital personnel, taking into account their preferences regarding working hours and starting time. The software also allows the hospital management to determine the number of staff needed at different times of the day. Three methods and five working-time scenarios characterized by different divisions of working time are proposed to solve the scheduling problem. The Seniority score Priority assignment Method appoints personnel prioritizing seniority, whereas the newly developed Balanced and Fair assignment Method and Genetic Algorithm Method aim for a more nuanced distribution. The methods proposed were applied to physicians in the internal diseases department in a specific hospital. Weekly/monthly scheduling of all employees was carried out with the software. The results of scheduling factoring in work-life balance, and the performances of algorithms are shown for the hospital where the application was trialled.